Italy reported 299 coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday, down from 488 the day before, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 11,629 from 13,331.
Some 216,211 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, against a previous 286,331, the health ministry said.
Italy has now registered 85,461 deaths linked to COVID-19 since last February, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the sixth-highest in the world. The country has reported 2.459 million cases.
Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 21,309 on Sunday, compared with 21,403 a day earlier.
There were 120 new admissions to intensive care units, against 174 the day before. The total number of intensive care patients stood at 2,400, up from 2,386.
When Italy's second wave of the epidemic was accelerating quickly in the first half of November, hospital admissions were rising by about 1,000 per day, while intensive care occupancy was increasing by about 100 per day.
(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes; Editing by Edmund Blair and David Evans)
